Ms Bennett said his comments only served to reflect the importance of local tourism organisations working within the wider tourism framework.

“Cairns don’t have an equivalent to Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree (TPDD), they are under the Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) banner,” she said.

“This just highlights the gap that exists for Cairns that they don’t have a stand-alone tourism body of their own.

“It’s important to have regional branding and a regional body inside the TTNQ brand because that is a really broad story for them to tell.”

The TTNQ brand encompasses regions such as Cairns, Port Douglas and Mossman, The Daintree, the Cassowary Coast, and the Atherton Tablelands.

Ms Bennett is sure if Cairns did establish a local tourism body focused on Cairns messaging, it would not negatively impact the tourism activities and messaging of the Port Douglas and Daintree areas.

“We have a strong brand and we are recognised as a stand-alone brand domestically and internationally,” she said.

“Cairns and the visitor market there are really complementary to ours and the gateway to our region is the Cairns airport so we are all reliant on that.

“Being a part of TTNQ benefits all of us and, being a remote region of Australia, we are so dependent on each other; Port Douglas and Daintree are strong brands but we are all stronger with each other and being part of the same story.”

The Queensland state government has committed an additional $1 million to tourism across the north and far north of Queensland following record flooding in the Townsville and surrounding region.

Ms Bennett confirmed some of that money would be directed to TPDD to help grow visitor numbers following a dip in tourism in the area.

“It is great [the state government] have recognised there has been an impact beyond Townsville because of the messaging about the floods,” she said.

“Since the flooding incident and through February, we have worked with TTNQ through Tourism and Events Queensland to petition for funding to be made available to overcome the drop in visitation.

“With this funding, we will be able to highlight how we have been affected by the miss-messaging and there are activities planned that will be rolled out for this region with Council, which has really put a spotlight on how are recovering.”

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Hey Peter mossman, you said it they look after there locals, port not so much, they dont rely on repeat business their model works on the sell them once they dont come back anyway, and when tourism drops they suffer. its a long drive into port douglas from the turn off, you are almost at smithfield in comparison, maybe a combined locals discount card in the off season might pull locals into town to make up the shortfall, but at the moment ill keep shopping in mossman or smithfield as needed.

2.

Newsport Facebook

12.03.2019 22:22

Douglas

Kate Jesseca
Need stronger business associations eg. Transport, hotels to get together

3.

Russell

12.03.2019 07:49

Diwan

I’m sure my comment will be popular, but... 101 in brand effectiveness, value and equity is keep it short, sharp and simple. If the region really does want to grow the tourism pie - dump TNQ, port Douglas, daintree etc. etc. too crowded and too noisy - besides TNQ means nothing to anyone who doesn’t live here and it’s a misnomer as all of Qld is tropical north of Rockhampton. Market, promote, awareness and sell Cairns - short, sharp, simple and people outside the region already refer to us as Cairns.

4.

Natalie

12.03.2019 06:53

Port Douglas

From what I and most smaller operators understand every time we hear we must all work together, work together means work together our way. Very hard to crack the ‘in crowd’ of local tourism. The current system very self serving. Opportunities only flow to those at the top.

5.

Harry

12.03.2019 06:30

Port D

Empty shops line McCrossan Street! Visitors to the Town like gold dust. Port Douglas is a sad state of affairs.

6.

Barry

11.03.2019 21:02

Cairns

I suggest to those who want to make statements like this that they should register with TAFE and pursue a career as a tradie so they will have a bigger selection of tools to use and promote. Luckily for Port Douglas and region Byrne was ousted by Val Schier because your area would be a total mess by now, if this 'has been' ever got to do what he and his business mates wanted to do.
Maybe someone should wake up and tell crystalbrook to POQ&DCB

7.

Peter

11.03.2019 20:55

Mossman

Why do we always hear how bad business is in Port Douglas. The cafes and restaurants and other businesses in Mossman and other parts of the shire just deal with it and do their best to look after the locals and visitors alike. Stop finding excuses and blaming everybody and everything for how you makes things for yourselves. Time to look at how you do business.

8.

Eric

11.03.2019 17:36

Port Douglas

Ah ha, Tara now has more funding that she can redirect to the OTA's to increase their profits and place further burden on Port Douglas accommodation providers. Go Tara !